Red Tourmaline, Rubellite

Red and pink tourmaline, the variety called rubellite, belongs to the tourmaline group of boron silicates; the finest rubellite is a saturated red that persists under artificial light, the quality that distinguishes it from pink material that greys out. Its colour comes from manganese. Like all tourmaline it grows in long striated prisms of triangular section, is pyroelectric and piezoelectric, and frequently changes hue along the crystal, producing the pink-and-green watermelon stones.

Because tourmaline reached Europe as a distinct stone only in the eighteenth century, red tourmaline has sometimes been mistaken for ruby in older collections; the great carved rubellites of the Russian and Chinese imperial treasuries are the most celebrated pieces. It has no deep independent tradition. Its modern metaphysical placement with the heart, love and vitality follows from the red-to-pink colour and belongs to twentieth-century crystal practice.